The scene, from the new TV series
Finding Carter, has the feel of any number of dramas one might find on a broadcast or
pay-cable network.

The network behind it, though, is less predictable: MTV, home of a hundred reality shows and the
outsize personalities to match.

In fact, with the recent premiere of
Carter, MTV will be attempting only its fourth hourlong drama in the past decade and its
first family drama in at least two decades.

At a time when many teen-aimed series contain a witch, a werewolf or other genre flourish, MTV
is betting that the next big thing can come via the old big thing: traditional family drama.

Finding Carter tells the story of the titular teenage girl (Prescott, best-known from the
British provocateur favorite
Skins), who is reunited with her biological family after learning that the single mom who
raised her — and whom she adores — kidnapped her as a toddler.

We’re a long way from
Jersey Shore.

Finding Carter has a high concept and some heightened moments. This is, after all, the
millennial-oriented MTV. But as created by Emily Silver (Bones) and produced by TV veteran and former journalist Terri Minsky, it fundamentally
asks the questions that drama has been posing for decades: Why do we love the people we do, what
obligations do our blood ties create and how much can or should our identities be shaped by our
environment?

“I think I’m coming at this as old-school as you can,” said Minsky, who has written scripts for
series such as
Sex and the City and also serves as the
Carter show runner. “I don’t have a dystopian society; I don’t have a sister vampire
werewolf thing. Not that that’s easy. But this show has the advantage of thinking everyday
teenagers are werewolves and shape-shifters in their own right.”

This retro push comes courtesy of Susanne Daniels, the drama guru formerly of Lifetime and the
CW. Since being hired as MTV’s president of programming 18 months ago, Daniels has sought to raise
the level of programming at the reality-heavy network. In part, she is trying to replicate past
CW/WB successes such as
Gilmore Girls and
Dawson’s Creek — smart fictional stories in which the challenges are universal and the
teenagers are as sharp as the adults.

“I like this show thematically for so many reasons,” Daniels said. “As teens and adolescents,
you see the world as a series of firsts. This is a great look at that through a different lens. It’s
what happens when you’re already dealing with all of that, and then your world turns upside down.’"